OPINION: Letters - July 27

I would like to address the devastating impact the elimination of Title X funding would have on patients, providers and the health system on the southern Kenai Peninsula.

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have once again proposed eliminating federal funding for Title X, a move that would deny crucial and lifesaving care for millions of Americans.

Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic, a Title X-funded health center, is vitally important to Homer's most vulnerable populations. If people cannot visit publicly funded family planning providers they know and trust for confidential, comprehensive and high-quality care, they go without that care. This often results in unintended pregnancies, untreated illnesses and undetected cancers.

Having worked at KBFPC for 14 years, I can safely say that the elimination of Title X would have devastating consequences and reverse major public health gains we've made in recent years.

Eliminating Title X is out-of-touch with the majority of Americans, including Republicans. A clear majority (more than 80 percent) of Americans support broad access to contraception; Seventy-five percent favor continuing Title X, including 66 percent of Republicans. (Source: "Survey Says: Birth Control Support," The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 2017.)

The Title X program's mission is to help people both achieve and prevent pregnancy, while also offering cancer and STD screenings, services that hundreds of women and men in our area rely on every year. If this funding is eliminated, our community will suffer. We all deserve access to affordable care that fits our individual needs.